A Note about Witches 关于女巫的话

A Note about Witches
In fairy-tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on
broomsticks.
But this is not a fairy-tale. This is about REAL WITCHES.
The most important thing you should know about REAL WITCHES is this. Listen very
carefully. Never forget what is coming next.
REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They
live in ordinary houses and they work in ORDINARY JOBS.
That is why they are so hard to catch.
A REAL WITCH hates children with a red-hot sizzling hatred¹ that is more sizzling and red-
hot than any hatred you could possibly imagine.
A REAL WITCH spends all her time plotting to get rid of the children in her particular
territory. Her passion is to do away with them, one by one. It is all she thinks about the whole day
long. Even if she is working as a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman or
driving round in a fancy car (and she could be doing any of these things), her mind will always be
plotting and scheming and churning and burning and whizzing and phizzing with murderous
bloodthirsty thoughts.
"Which child," she says to herself all day long, "exactly which child shall I choose for my
next squelching²?"
A REAL WITCH gets the same pleasure from squelching a child as you get from eating a
plateful of strawberries and thick cream.
She reckons on doing away with one child a week. Anything less than that and she becomes
grumpy.
One child a week is fifty-two a year.
Squish them and squiggle them and make them disappear.
That is the motto of all witches.
Very carefully a victim is chosen. Then the witch stalks the wretched child like a hunter
stalking a little bird in the forest. She treads softly. She moves quietly. She gets closer and closer.
Then at last, when everything is ready... phwisst!... and she swoops³! Sparks fly. Flames leap. Oil
boils. Rats howl. Skin shrivels. And the child disappears.
A witch, you must understand, does not knock children on the head or stick knives into them
or shoot at them with a pistol. People who do those things get caught by the police.
A witch never gets caught. Don't forget that she has magic in her fingers and devilry dancing
in her blood. She can make stones jump about like frogs and she can make tongues of flame go
flickering⁴ across the surface of the water.
These magic powers are very frightening.
Luckily, there are not a great number of REAL WITCHES in the world today. But there are
still quite enough to make you nervous. In England, there are probably about one hundred of them
altogether. Some countries have more, others have not quite so many. No country in the world is
completely free from WITCHES.
A witch is always a woman.
I do not wish to speak badly about women. Most women are lovely. But the fact remains⁵ that
all witches are women. There is no such thing as a male witch.
On the other hand, a ghoul is always a male. So indeed is a barghest. Both are dangerous. Bu
neither of them is half as dangerous as a REAL WITCH.
As far as children are concerned, a REAL WITCH is easily the most dangerous of all the
living creatures on earth. What makes her doubly dangerous is the fact that she doesn't look
dangerous. Even when you know all the secrets (you will hear about those in a minute), you can still
never be quite sure whether it is a witch you are gazing at or just a kind lady. If a tiger were able to
make himself look like a large dog with a waggy tail, you would probably go up and pat him on the
head. And that would be the end of you. It is the same with witches. They all look like nice ladies.
Kindly⁶ examine the picture opposite. Which lady is the witch? That is a difficult question, but
it is one that every child must try to answer.
For all you know, a witch might be living next door to you right now.
Or she might be the woman with the bright eyes who sat opposite you on the bus this
morning.
She might be the lady with the dazzling smile who offered you a sweet from a white paper
bag in the street before lunch.
She might even--- and this will make you jump--- she might even be your lovely school-
teacher who is reading these words to you at this very moment. Look carefully at that teacher.
Perhaps she is smiling at the absurdity⁷ of such a suggestion. Don't let that put you off. It could be part
of her cleverness.
I am not, of course, telling you for one second that your teacher actually is a witch. All I am
saying is that she might be one. It is most unlikely. But--- and here comes the big "but"--- it is not
impossible.
Oh, if only there were a way of telling for sure whether a woman was a witch or not, then we
could round them all up and put them in the meat-grinder. Unhappily, there is no such way. But there
are a number of little signals you can look out for, little quirky habits that all witches have in
common, and if you know about these, if you remember them always, then you might just possibly
manage to escape from being squelched⁸ before you are very much older.


关于女巫的话
在童话里，女巫总是戴傻里傻气的黑帽子，披黑色斗篷，骑着把扫帚飞来飞去。
但现在要给大家讲的是真正的女巫，不是童话。
关于真正的女巫，有一点最重要，你们务必要知道，仔细听好了，下面的话可千万不要
忘掉。
真正的女巫穿平平常常的衣服，就像平平常常的女人，住平平常常的房屋，做平平常常
的工作。
这就是那么难发现她们的道理。
真正的女巫切齿痛恨小朋友，比你们能想象的切齿痛恨还要加十分，牙齿真是咬得嘎嘎
响。
真正的女巫个个把时间都用在阴谋消灭她本地的孩子上面，只想着把他们一个一个清除
掉。整天从早到晚，她所想的就只有这个。即使在超级市场当收银员的时候，或者给老板打
一封信的时候，或者开高级汽车到处兜风的时候（这一类事情她都能做），她心里仍然一直
在燃烧和沸腾着这种嗜血的杀人念头，并盘算、策划着她的杀人行动。
“哪个孩子，”她整天在想，“我接下来要弄死哪个孩子呢？”
真正的女巫杀死一个孩子所得到的乐趣，就像你吃了一盘奶油草莓一样。
她预定一星期干掉一个孩子，少了她就不顺心。
一星期一个孩子，一年就是五十二个。
弄死他们，消灭他们。
这就是所有女巫的座右铭。
她选定对象非常慎重，选定以后就像猎人在林中悄悄跟踪小鸟一样跟住这个倒霉的孩
子。她行动无声，越跟越近，等到万事皆备……哇！她一下子动手了！火花直冒，火焰腾
起，脂油沸滚，老鼠嘶叫，皮肤皱缩，孩子无影无踪了。
你必须明白，女巫绝不敲打孩子的脑袋，用刀子捅他们或者开枪。这样做会被警察捉住
的。
女巫从来不会被捕。别忘了她的手指有魔法，血液中跳动着妖术。她能使石块像青蛙那
样蹦蹦跳，使火舌在水面上闪动。
这种魔力是异常可怕的。
幸亏今天世界上真正的女巫不多了，但那数目还是够叫你紧张的。在英国，总共约有一
百个女巫。有些国家的女巫多些，有些国家少些，但世界上没有一个国家完全没有女巫。
女巫永远是女的。
我不想说女人的坏话。绝大多数女人是可爱的。但所有女巫都是女的，这依然是事实。
女巫没有一个是男的。
反过来说，食尸鬼都是男的。苏格兰的猛犬山妖也是男的。两者都同样危险。不过这两
者的危险程度及不上真正女巫的一半。
对孩子来说，真正的女巫无疑是世界上一切生物中最危险的。她之所以加倍危险，正是
因为她看上去毫不危险。即使知道了所有的秘密（你这就要听到），你仍然说不准你看到的
到底是女巫抑或只是一位善良的女人。如果一只老虎能化身为一只摇尾巴的大狗，你可能还
会走上去拍拍它的头。那你就没命了。女巫就是这样。她们看上去全是很好的女人。
请看看下面这幅画。你说哪个女人是女巫？这是一个很难回答的问题，但这个问题每个
孩子必须回答。
你也许不知道，女巫说不定就住在你家右面的那座房子里。
或者她就是今天早晨在公共汽车上坐在你对面的那个眼睛闪亮的女人。
她说不定就是午饭前在街上对你眉开眼笑、从一个白袋子里拿出一块糖来请你吃的那个
女人。
她甚至可能正是——你听了真会猛跳起来——这会儿在读这些话给你听的老师。请你仔
细看看这位老师。她读到这句荒唐的话时也许还对你微笑呢。别让她的这副样子蒙骗了你。
这可能是她的狡猾手法之一。
当然，我丝毫不是说你的老师真是一个女巫。我只是说她可能是一个女巫。百分之九十
九点九九九不会。但是——这是极重要的“但是”——也并非绝对不可能。
噢，要是有办法断定哪一个女人是女巫就好了，这样我们就能把她们全部识破，塞到绞
肉机里。不幸的是没有办法。不过所有女巫都有一些你可以看出来的小特征、奇怪的小习
惯，如果你知道它们，一直把它们记在心里，那么你长大前就有可能逃脱她们的毒手了。

1 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

2 squelching   

v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的现在分词 )；制止；压制；遏制

参考例句：

• I could hear his broken shoes squelching in the water. 我可以听到他的破鞋在水中格喳格喳作响。 来自辞典例句
• The armies got bogged down in the thick squelching mud. 军队都陷入泥沼中，行进时烂泥扑哧作声。 来自互联网

3 swoops   

猛扑，突然下降( swoop的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He fixes his eyes on the greyish spine of the old wolf as he swoops down. 他两眼死死盯住老狼灰黑的脊背。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• An owl swoops from the ridge top, noiseless but as flame. 蓦地，山脊上一只夜枭飞扑直下，悄无声响而赫然如一道火光。

4 flickering   

adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的

参考例句：

• The crisp autumn wind is flickering away. 清爽的秋风正在吹拂。
• The lights keep flickering. 灯光忽明忽暗。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

7 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

8 squelched   

v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；压制；遏制

参考例句：

• We squelched over the soggy ground. 我们咕唧咕唧地走过泥泞的土地。
• The mud squelched as I walked through it. 我扑哧扑哧地穿过泥泞。